Over the weekend, UBC women’s soccer became back-to-back U Sports national champions earning their ninth consecutive banner in Halifax. UBC beat the Dalhousie University Tigers, Cape Breton University Capers and l’Université Laval Rouge et Or for the championship and their 20–0 season record made program history.
This talented team showed brilliant offence all season but their defence paved the way to the championship. The T-Birds achieved all clean sheet games keeping their historic four goals against this season.
In the quarterfinals, the Thunderbirds played the Dalhousie host team as UBC went into the tournament as the first seed and the Tigers were the eighth seed. The ‘Birds had a commanding win over Dalhousie, beating them 4–0.
The first half of the game was scoreless even though UBC held possession slightly more and capitalized on their possessions. UBC outshot Dalhousie 6–1 as they applied pressure and pushed the attack. Dalhousie kept UBC from scoring in the first half but eventually the T-Birds eventually were going to score, especially with the way they attacked and held possession.
In the second half, the ‘Birds got their first point of the game in the 63rd minute. After many chances, Sophia Ferreira placed a long ball into the box. Bailey Doerksen saved it from going out and passed it back to Sienna Gibson at the top of the box to score and put UBC up 1–0.
Soon after the T-Birds scored again when Nisa Reehal made a great move to beat the Tigers’ defence and crossed the ball into the box to find Jade Taylor-Ryan to finish. UBC was on a roll as they further extended the lead with a goal in the 75th minute by Jayda Thompson and then right after in the 80th minute by Ferreira assisted by Olivia Gomez putting them up 4–0.
The ‘Birds defence stopped any attempts from Dalhousie to get a point on the board and got the win.
UBC moved onto the semifinals where they played Cape Breton. The game was intensely close but ultimately the T-Birds proved their prowess and came out on top to win 1–0 in overtime.
In the 90 minutes of regular time, both teams played with such high energy but it ended 0–0. It was quite a physical game with so much on the line. There was a lot of back and forth but once again, the Thunderbirds capitalized more on possession and outshot the Capers 26–9.
One of the closest chances for UBC came in the second half when Thompson placed a great through ball to Taylor-Ryan who shot on a breakaway, but Cape Breton’s goalie Ellie Lancaster read the ball well and saved it. Later in extra time, the T-Birds were close again when Thompson’s shot was blocked by Lancaster. From the rebound, Taylor-Ryan back-heel flicked the ball to Reehal to shoot but it was blocked again.
In overtime both teams looked a little worn down after playing a full game but UBC still pushed to get the win. In the second half of overtime, Doerksen battled in the box against Cape Breton’s defence. She got space in front of the net and shot but it was deflected by Lancaster. Off the bounce, Doerksen connected again to score and put UBC up 1–0.
With little time left, UBC parked the bus to hold out as Cape Breton tried to tie it. Lancaster was the reason it was so close for Cape Breton as she made a total of 16 saves and kept them in the game. But in the end, it was the T-Birds who got the win and punched their ticket to the finals.
UBC made it to the gold medal match and were so close to becoming back-to-back national championships for the first time since 2003. They faced l’Université Laval who were the second seed in the tournament. It was a close and hard fought game, but UBC came out on top winning 1–0.
In the first half, both teams seemed evenly matched — they both had good offensive chances and played sharp on defence. Taylor-Ryan and Thompson had many rushes on offence but the T-Birds couldn’t connect until the 46th minute. Taiya Dennehy on a corner put a long ball into the box where Ferreira connected with a header towards the net to score.
Starting the second half, UBC was in great shape. Laval was in a tough spot, needing to score when they had not scored the whole tournament, as they advanced through shootouts. Laval had lots of chances, desperately trying to keep themselves in the game, but UBC’s defence and goalkeeper Dakota Beckett kept them at bay.
With nine minutes left UBC slowed down the play. Their impressive defence and keep away mindset on offence shut down any chances or desperate pushes by Laval and earned them the win to make them the 2024 U Sports National Champions.
It was a well deserved win for the T-Birds as they all performed strongly. Gibson earned MVP of the tournament and she and Ferreira, Taylor-Ryan and Sarah Rollins made the tournament all-star team.
Winning the national championship was truly the perfect end to a perfect season for the Thunderbirds. This team has set the bar high and doubters may say there is no topping this, however, they have consistently shown they can go the distance. Only time will tell if next year they could achieve a never-before third consecutive national championship.
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